Special / Sam Bennett / Mount Pisgah Christian quarterback Aaron Winchester, seen here in a game against Walker earlier in the season, scored six touchdowns – five passing and one rushing – in the Patriots 40-7 Class A private school first-round win over Pacelli last Friday.

Mount Pisgah Christian and Blessed Trinity advanced to the quarterfinals, while Alpharetta saw its season come to an end with a second-round loss in week three of the state football playoffs last week.

Mount Pisgah (11-0) got its quest for the Class A private school state championship off to a strong start and got its first state playoff victory in school history with a 40-7 win over Pacelli in a first-round game last Friday – scoring all 40 of its points in the first half.

With the win, the Patriots will host Holy Innocents’ in a Class A private school quarterfinal game Friday.

Aaron Winchester scored six touchdowns – throwing for five and running for one – while passing for 179 yards to lead the way for the Patriots.

Winchester threw three of his touchdown passes in the first quarter – passes of 22 and 15 yards to Ben Miller – who had five catches for 99 yards and four touchdowns — and a 52-yard strike to Browning Dunn.

In the second quarter, he scored on a 9-yard run and then threw touchdown passes of 50 and 5 yards to Miller.

Nicci Piccapietra led the Pisgah defense with eight tackles, while Ian Ainsworth had seven tackles and Blake Smith, Shingi Chigwere, Oz Dixon and Patrick Messinger had six tackles each.

“We played well,” Mount Pisgah coach Mike Forester said. “We took advantage of the things that were given to us. They loaded the box against us. If you are going to load the box, then we’ll throw deep.”

Blessed Trinity (9-3) advanced to the state quarterfinals for the first time in school history with a 38-0 victory over White County in a AAA second-round game last Friday.

The Titans will now host Washington County in a AAA quarterfinal contest Friday.

Carter McManes and Chad Manthey rushed for two touchdowns each in the first half for Blessed Trinity, which led 7-0 at the end of the first quarter and increased that advantage to 28-0 at halftime.

Conor Davis threw a 22-yard touchdown pass to Pat Jasinski and Marc Nolan kicked a 33-yard field goal in the second half for the Titans.

Alpharetta (9-3) will not be joining Mount Pisgah and Blessed Trinity in the quarterfinals after losing to Collins Hill 48-0 in a AAAAAA second-round game last Friday.

Collins Hill took a 7-0 lead in the first quarter, then added three more touchdowns in the second quarter to go up 28-0 at halftime and proceeded to outscore the Raiders 20-0 in the second half to take the win.

Austin King completed 12 of 20 passes for 136 yards, while Miles Smith rushed for 64 yards on 11 carries and Daniel Clements caught six passes for 81 yards to lead Alpharetta on offense.

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